


Harlequin and Normalicy

by worddancer



Series: The Babysitters Club- Avengers Edition [4]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom, Thor (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Post Mission, Red Room, coaping methods, harliquin novels, idea of sex, mention of clint/darcy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-12
Updated: 2015-08-12
Packaged: 2018-04-14 06:50:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4554849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/worddancer/pseuds/worddancer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Natasha loves cheesy romance novels- especially after missions. When they come home from finding Bucky Darcy has one waiting for her. Sam is curious as to why a Russian assassian likes bad romance novels.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Harlequin and Normalicy

**Author's Note:**

> wow I suck at summaries. This one takes place right after Taking the Avantage. Contains things mentioned in Babysitting the Avengers. I'll probably do a one shot of how Sam and Natasha started sleeping together/seeing each other later. Bare mentions of that in this one. 
> 
> The support for these stories have been amazing so thank you for everyone who has given kudos, bookmarked or left comments.

Natasha stood next to Sam at the elevator waiting for the carriage to come back up from whatever floor had called it down.

“We did it.” Sam said awe creeping into his voice, “we brought him home.”

“We did. It’s not over though.” Natasha couldn’t help but say.

“Girl you gotta learn to at least peek at the bright side every now and again.” Sam laughed at her, his exhaustion weighing his chuckles down.

“I am, in fact I think that Darcy probably has another bottle of vodka at my place if you’d like to join me for some.” Natasha said.

“More vodka? Ok, that is the bright side.” Sam told her as they stepped into the elevator. “I could use a drink or five.”

“God bless Darcy.” Natasha muttered as she walked in and saw another vodka bottle sitting on the counter and a Harlequin novel lying next to it.

“What you said, god bless Darcy.” Sam agreed, “Where are your glasses?”

“Cupboard to the right of the sink, grab the rocks glasses.” Natasha said, “I’m going to grab a shower. You can grab one too but first pour a vodka for both of us. Don’t bother with the ice”

“Yes ma’am.” Sam said grabbing two glasses and pouring a generous amount of vodka in both of them. Natasha walked over and took one of the glasses in her hand and raised it in Sam’s direction. They both knocked back the smooth liquor in one swallow and set the glasses back down. They stared at the counter for a moment lost in their own thoughts.

“I need to be clean.” Natasha said after a few minutes.

“Same, you sure you don’t mind if a grab a shower here?” Sam asked figuring after the last few months they’d had none of them would want to be alone right now.

“Go ahead. There’s more vodka when we’re done. Plus I have a pair of Clint’s sweats you can use.” Natasha said as she gathered up her new book and moved into her bedroom with its master bathroom. She couldn’t wait to climb into her beautiful wonderful shower. Every time she walked into her shower she considered kissing Tony Stark. She’d kill him with her pinky if he ever asked her to but after spending too much time in this amazing shower she might kiss him first.

It was a really fucking great shower.

She dug in her drawer for the old almost threadbare sweats she’d stolen from Clint years ago and brought them back out to Sam along with a few clean towels. She all but ran back to her bedroom and tore off her clothes as she turned the water to hot.

Natasha sat her exhausted body on the bench and let the water from seven separate heads pour over her. Clint always teased her about her showers- said she liked them the same temperature as Satan’s ass crack but they didn’t allow hot water in the Red Room. Not very often. Only if she did something really well. Only if she killed really well. Any other time it was freezing cold water. Quick showers. Enough to wash the blood off.

Now she could take as long and as hot of showers as she wanted and she often did.

After she lathered her hair and conditioned thoroughly she climbed out of the steaming bathroom and back into her master bedroom. The harlequin romance was tossed on her bed where she had left it when she walked in to her room. Natasha retucked the towel around her torso and picked up the book.

A Will, A Wish... A Proposal the title screamed from the cover. It looked awful and cheesy and exactly what she liked.

_Agent Barton pushed the cart through the grocery store. He’d asked her several times if there was anything SHE wanted._

_She hadn’t been able to answer him._

_She had no idea what she wanted. She couldn’t remember the last time she had a choice. She’d been a little girl, before her parents gave her to the red room. Her mother had gone to town and taken her with. It was always a special treat going to town._

_“Что вы хотите девочка?” her mother had asked. (What do you want baby girl?)_

_“то, что мама?” She had asked. (What mama?)_

_“Какая юбка дорогая, то, что один вы хотите?” her mother pressed. (Which skirt do you want my dear?)_

_“Прочитал одну” little Natalia had said. Later she would recognize the irony of asking for the red skirt over the blue skirt but either way it would be the last time she voiced her opinion._

_Until now that had been the last choice she made. A week after she and her mother had gone to town a man came to her house. A man that said she could serve Mother Russia. After that she’d never had a choice again. She didn’t know how to make choices anymore._

_Still this new man- Agent Barton- asked her what she wanted. She didn’t know. She didn’t know how to make a choice for herself._

_She’d lost that ability long ago in favor for new skills._

_Agent Barton obviously didn’t know what to do with her non-response. He threw thing after thing in the cart. While he shopped in the grocery store she kept watch. She couldn't help it._

_“You have to be aware of your surroundings always!” Matron had beaten into her- literally._

_Be aware of your surroundings, analyze the target, access the situation, and complete the mission. That was her training. That was what the Red Room taught her. She didn’t know how to make a choice anymore._

_So whenever Agent Barton asked her what she wanted she couldn’t answer._

_She didn’t know what she wanted._

_She’d never been given the chance. It never mattered what she wanted, not after she entered the Red Room. Not after she’d become one of the Black Widow’s._

_She watched Agent Barton fill his cart. Healthy foods, sweets and everything in between. He threw in everything. It scared her how he could make those choices. That he had the freedom to make those choices. That the other agent- Phil Coulson had given him the freedom to make those choices for her._

_Was she the mission?_

_She couldn’t be. The first agent- Natasha didn’t remember his name- yelled at Agent Barton. Said he broke mission parameters. The first agent had told Agent Barton that taking in strays wasn’t part of S.H.I.E.L.D protocol._

_Agent Barton had told him to shove off._

_S.H.I.E.L.D was different than the Red Room. She didn’t know what she wanted but she knew she wanted different._

_After Agent Barton had dragged her up and down each grocery store isle he finally led her to the check out. Lining the area by the checkout there were rows and rows of books. Sometimes the people in the Red Room had given her books. If her cover was supposed to know those books she knew those books. Those were her favorite missions. The books showed her a new world. They showed her something different._

_Natasha stared at the different books thinking that maybe now she’d be able to buy her own books. Maybe she’d also be able to dance for herself. All the girls in the Red Room trained in ballet. It made their muscles slim and as strong as possible. It taught them grace._

_Dancing was another way for Natasha to forget._

_She could read now. She could choose when to dance now._

_Agent Barton must have seen her staring at the books. He grabbed several different titles off of the shelf and set them in the cart. The books had women and men on the covers holding each other. Across the top of each white cover was a red ribbon reading Harlequin._

_“Phil wants you to stay with me for a couple of days.” Clint said, “I mostly have movies. I’m not a huge reader so we might as well grab some so you have something to do if you don’t wanna watch T.V.”_

_“Спасибо.” Natasha said. She looked at the tittles again- they were her books now. She owned books._

Natasha held the newest book for a moment before setting it on her night stand to read later. After Clint bought her the first Harlequin novels more had started showing up at the apartment. Every time he went to get groceries, beer, wine or even just for a walk a new books would show up on the coffee table. By the time Natasha had been cleared by S.H.I.E.L.D to be on her own without a watch dog she owned two suitcases of clothes and two of books. Now in her apartment at the tower she had an entire wall of bookshelves in her bedroom. They were all Harlequin romance novels.

Not many people went into her bedroom.

Natasha quickly dressed and went back out to the main area. Sam already sat at the counter with a new glass of vodka. She saw a second glass sitting next to him. Sam was slimmer than Clint and the faded grey sweats hung lower on his hips drawing her eyes to his long muscular torso.

“Thanks.” She said as she sat next to him and sipped from the glass.

“No problem.” Sam smiled at her, “We actually found him.”

“We did.” Natasha acknowledged smiling at the fact.

“Now comes the hard part.” Sam said grabbing the vodka bottle to top off their glasses. The clear liquor splashed over the ice and burned cold down their throats.

“You’ll help. You’ll help Steve and Bucky and Darcy too.” Natasha said confidently. She liked Sam quite a bit. He was good in the fight and understood coming off the battle field. Even better he knew how to help others off the battle field. He not only stood by Steve but also by her. Even after the dump where most of her secrets had been laid bare. He hadn’t known her very well at that point but he still trusted her.

Natasha wished she could have trust that easily. She tended to save that for people who she knew long enough to earn it. No matter who vouched for them. The pair sat in silence for a while enjoying each other’s company, the vodka and knowing they found Bucky.

“So what’s with the romance novels?” Sam asked breaking the silence.

“Stick around Fly Boy and you might find out.” Natasha told him. She trusted Sam now but the romance novels were her thing. Well her and Clint’s thing. He still got her a new one every Christmas. Darcy knew she liked them but the younger woman had never asked for the story behind them.

“If you don’t mind me being around I won’t mind sticking around.” Sam said easily. They had slept together several times since D.C. It started with Natasha showing up at his house after the fall of the Triskelion. After Steve woke up from the hospital and went back to New York. She’d shown up with a bottle of vodka and two glasses.

She hadn’t slept in the guest room that night.

She did that several times over the last several months. Showed up where he was going to be for the night with a bottle of vodka. If they were chasing down a new lead to find Bucky they didn’t always have glasses sometimes just sat on whatever they had and passed the bottle back and forth.

Sometimes she stayed.

Sometimes she didn’t.

This was the first time she took him to her spot. Her home. Clint and Darcy were really the only other ones who had been here. She liked her privacy. She would hang out with the others in the community spaces but her home she kept for herself.

Darcy had only come to bring Natasha her post mission goodies. Only Clint came to socialize.

“I wouldn’t mind that.” Natasha told Sam as she picked up the vodka bottle and started walking back to the bedroom.

“In fact you can even stay here tonight.” she offered.

“I’d like that.” Sam said pushing his lean body up from the stool. When they walked into her bedroom Sam pulled up short and stared at the wall of romance novels for a moment.

“One day I am going to ask about that.” he told her.

“One day I’ll answer.” Natasha promised before pulling him into the bed with her.


End file.
